Another evolutionary ‘truth’ now conceded to be myth

Evolutionists abandon the idea of 99% DNA similarity between humans and chimps

Published: 10 August 2007(GMT+10)

Image by Nathan Smartt

In a recent Science article, several evolutionary scientists openly admitted
that the claim of 99% DNA similarity between humans and chimpanzees is a myth.1 Since 1975, this misleading
statistic has been touted (e.g., see box) as clear cut evidence that humans and
chimps are closely related on the evolutionary tree of life.2 However, more and more genetic research has revealed
that the percentage of DNA similarity has been vastly overstated.

Revealing quotes

Cohen also wrote about recent studies ‘… raising the question of whether
the 1% truism should be retired.’

UCSD zoologist, Pascal Gagneux, said ‘For many, many years, the 1% difference
served us well because it was underappreciated how similar we were. Now it’s
totally clear that it’s more a hindrance for understanding than a help.’

Svante Pääbo, after admitting he didn’t think there was any way to actually
calculate a precise percentage difference, said ‘In the end, it’s a
political and social and cultural thing about how we see our differences.’
In other words, as creationists have long stated, scientific interpretations are
often driven by philosophical presuppositions.

Another icon falls by the wayside

As has so often been observed … evolutionary icons eventually collapse under
the weight of the empirical data.

Just this year, we have witnessed the downfall of two ‘icons of evolution’.
Not only has the idea of 99% genetic similarity between humans and chimps been abandoned,
but also the myth of so-called ‘Junk DNA’ has been debunked—see
Astonishing DNA complexity
uncovered and Astonishing
DNA complexity Update. As has so often been observed since Darwin published
his Origin of Species, evolutionary icons eventually collapse under the
weight of the empirical data. Meanwhile the biblical creation model is continually
vindicated as each new discovery reveals hitherto-unexpected layers of complexity
in what has so obviously been created—reflecting the hand of the
Creator.

‘Take it down!’

A correspondent recently alerted us to these displays at the Melbourne (Australia)
Museum, which claim that DNA studies ‘show that humans are apes’ and
that ‘our DNA is nearly identical to a chimpanzees’, with less than
a 2% difference.

As Daniel’s article shows, even evolutionists would now admit that the ‘less
than 2%’ claim is wrong—we wonder how long it will take the Melbourne
Museum to correct their display accordingly?

However, evolutionists will no doubt continue to argue that ‘humans are apes’—that
claim comes from the secular humanist belief that everything has arisen ultimately
by evolution, no Creator being necessary. However, in some places Christians are
‘fighting back’ against such secular propaganda, and this has been reported
in the media.1,2 For example, in the USA, staff of museums and science
centres say they are frequently confronted by members of the public eager to challenge
evolution. Consequently, an increasing number of museums are giving their staff
‘training’ in how to respond to creationists.

However, any such ‘response’ that tries to argue for evolution is easily
refuted by the information freely available on this website, and in publications
such as Creation magazine and the Journal of Creation. Christians armed with such information and
willing to speak out against the falsehoods of the
secular religious teaching at our taxpayer-funded institutions can
make a difference. You, too, can arm yourself today!

References

The 99% statistic is based on comparing a mere 97 genes between
respective genomes. The human genome contains about 20,000 genes. Therefore, 97
genes represent only about 0.5% of our entire genome. Return to Text.

Tatsuya, A., et al., Comparative Sequencing of Human
and Chimpanzee MHC Class I Regions Unveils Insertions/Deletions As the Major Path
to Genomic Divergence, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA 100:7708–13, 2003. Return to Text.

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